Friday, November 9, 2012

True Friendship!

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true
friends are a sure refuge.

The young they keep out of mischief; to the old
they are a comfort and aid in weakness,

and those in
the prime of life they incite noble deeds.

Aristotle

Walking up the step for
the third time in three weeks, I knock on the door. I hear footsteps could it
be happening this time? A nice young woman answers the door and I explain my
mission. “No problem, go right ahead” Oh, Thank you so much. I make my way down
the side of this newer house. This is such a strange feeling, a little sad but
my heart is racing with excitement.

My friend BA and I used to
sit on the wrap around porch for hours talking and laughing. The porch is no
longer there replaced by a blank wall towering high above my head. Walking to
the backyard I am thinking, I do hope the rocks are still there. You see this
was the spot where my best friend’s house used to sit; tore down and heaped
into bins to be taken away to who knows where.

I remember that day well; I
still live near this little village and came across that demolition one day
unexpectedly about ten years ago or maybe more (time goes so fast), triggering good
memories and yet a profound sadness. The same sadness, and yet an unexplained
excitement, that I am feeling these days watching the demolition of my old
house today.

BA never seen her house
torn down and I think she was lucky but maybe it would have given her closure,
I will not know exactly how she feels until I see that empty lot with those full
bins going to who knows where and my old childhood home is completely gone too.
I only know how I felt then looking at bins in front of her house that day long
ago and now seeing my house the same way. A sense of loss but also thinking
those new houses would have been so welcome for our struggling parents. I know
my parents deserved a warm house and I think her parents did too. I am not sure
if BA thinks this way, but I do.

Back to my mission, I
walked into the backyard of this house and seen the rocks still in the same
spot, where two young girls used to sit and talk about their future dreams and
how someday they would meet their knights in shining armour, which they did. I could
not believe that these rocks were still there. I stood on the split rock and
looked toward this newer house; I pictured the porch where I would sit almost
every day. The forgotten image of that porch making my mind race with memories
of long ago.

Those happy memories of a
porch and long conversations, the tree on the front lawn and climbing to reach
the top, the creek behind and watching its banks overflow and come so close to
the house every spring, and silly girls standing on the chunks of ice and
hoping not to float away when it broke loose. Most of all I remember the love of
a family that accepted me the way I was and always treated me as one of their
own. This was my second home "Wow” now I was starting to get emotional. I made
my way down to the creek when I smelled something funny but kept going excitingly running to the creek we used to play in.

Dreaming beside the creek and smiling, I looked down
wondering where that overwhelming smell was coming from. Apparently in my
excitement I had not noticed that the new owners of this lovely house owned a “Very
Large” dog let me repeat that “Very Large”, I had never looked down once
running from the rocks to the creek, to the tree, back to the rocks, and finally
back to the creek in my excitement. A “Large” deposit was stuck to my favourite
shoe. I plunged my shoe into the cold, cold water of a creek where I spent my
childhood splashing and playing forgetting what may lie ahead. I plunged and I
shook and I rolled my shoe in the dead leaves that littered the bank. My memories
were immediately replaced in my head by a “How am I going to deal with this?’ I
walked slowly back to the house to knock on the door to thank this very nice
lady.

I stood on the road in
front of the big house that stirred my memories in my sock feet with my now
bagged shoes sitting in a plastic bag in the back of my Jeep. I said goodbye
for now. I headed over to the church we used to go to which now has a Clothing
Thrift Store in the basement and told them my dilemma, the ladies laughed as
they looked down at my sock feet. I found a pair of used children’s shoes and a
newer pair of pants ( "Very Large dog”) and thanked the ladies. I went into the change room and pulled on
those nice pants throwing the other ones in a bag; I pulled on those shoes over my
still wet socks covering my cold feet and exited the building, waving goodbye to the ladies.

I drove back past that now gone but never
forgotten big old house of memories smiling. It was worth it and I would do it
again. I know BA is going to love these photos and I am sure they will make her
smile, and now possibly laugh out loud.

Now; that is what true friendship is all
about. Laughter and not forgetting those good memories.

aaaah...nice memories of a friend...brought this quote to mind, one of my favorites, "Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake." (Winnie the Pooh)

Could you hear my Mom yelling, "if you two drown there is going to be trouble". Thank you, thank you, I can't believe with all the changes our rock is still there and those trees, oh the memories. I think I miss that old porch the most (OK my Mom & Dad the most) but that old porch, if it could talk.Lots of tears this morning, but happy tears. If the demolition gets to much, you know where I am, even if it is just a phone call.

My brain works in strange ways and as you wrote and I read the smell of dog .... rose up. gag. How lovely to revisit those old rocks and the stream and how nice of the new homeowners to allow you back there to revisit the past.

Oh those large dog mementos! I wonder how many of life's wistful moments have been tainted by them. Just the other day I was raking the golden leaves into nice piles, remembering when my daughter was small and liked to jump in them, when I raked up a pile of another kind. Back to reality...

Thank you for sharing this story-all of it. It made me smile, tear up a bit, and certainly gave me a good laugh, too. :)

Nothing like finding stinky stuff on your shoe to bring you back to reality. Maybe those rocks will stay to help save the memories. I've heard construction workers call huge rocks "leaverites" as in leave 'er right there.

It's so nice that you were allowed to enjoy these special memories by the new family that lives in this place. So many people are experiencing the loss of their homes in disasters and fires every day and knowing how they feel is a special gift of empathy. But even in the saddest moments, there is always something to smile about, even when you are up to your ankles in it. Hugs. xx

Friends with a sense of humour and loving patience.

My name is Grace but my friends call me Buttons.

Hello my name is Grace but my friends call me Buttons. I am a farmer in Ontario Canada. I am also a blogger, writer, an amateur photographer and a dreamer. I write to share my life of being a farm woman and what I do and think. Life is always busy. Farm women everywhere work right along with their husbands and run farms on their own they are not only cooking in the kitchen.Juggling everything at once is a skill they need to have. Welcome.